Monday, August 15, 2005

Russia beatings latest

President Vladimir Putin talked with his Polish counterpart, Aleksandr Kwasniewski, by telephone Friday after the beating of a Polish journalist - the third attack on Polish citizens in Moscow, including a diplomat, in five days.

Kwasniewski contacted Putin late Thursday after Pawel Reszka, correspondent for Poland's leading Rzeczpospolita daily, was beaten Thursday evening in central Moscow, and expressed concern that the attacks in Moscow were "leading to a harmful escalation of hostility."

Kwasniewski's office said that Putin also "strongly criticized the radical actions and hooligan acts which took place in Russia and Poland."

My favorite part:

Attacks on polish citizens started after three teenagers, the children of Russian diplomats and a Kazakh schoolboy were attacked in Poland. According to witnesses, the attackers included about 15 people, aged 19-25. They shouted anti-Russian slogans and obscenities.

During medical examinations, doctors found numerous bruises, and scratches on the victims. The teenagers had some of their teeth knocked out, one boy had a broken nose and doctors suspect that one had a concussion. There were no internal injuries and the victims declined a hospital stay, reminds Pravda.

Interesting, no mention of Reszka's (RESH-ka) injuries. A few days after the beating, he looked like this:

And in this column (in Polish), he explains how it was done professionally, but that his warm feelings toward the Russian people hasn't changed.